Category: Clinical
-
Introducing Darth Vecdor: A Free, Open-Source Platform to Create Knowledge Graphs Using LLMs (such as ChatGPT)
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA I Wanted a Comprehensive Medical Knowledge Graph For decades, I have hypothesized that a comprehensive medical knowledge database (aka, “knowledge base” or “knowledge graph”) would enable radical positive transformation in healthcare. I wanted a database containing relationships between concepts, like: With such a database, I imagined we could…
-
The WXP: My “Secret Weapon” Metric in Process Performance Analysis
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA Introduction Throughout my professional life, I have performed analyses to assess performance related to some process or function. Whether it’s the performance of people processes, machine processes, or something else, I have found a simple metric (or set of similar metrics) that seems very often to tell me…
-
Predicting Correctly Seems More Often Luck Than Skill. I’m Making Some Healthcare Predictions Anyway.
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA As of this writing (2025), there are about 8 billion people in the world. Let’s say that every person guesses the likelihood that “the stock market” (let’s say the S&P 500) will be up or down from one quarter to the next. And let’s say that this is…
-
An Innovation (I think) Needed to Address an Aging Population
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA The Problem Have you ever seen the following in a movie or TV show? Someone has had a tragic accident or medical event and needs to undergo physical therapy to get better, but they feel hopeless and reluctant. Then a dedicated person or team of doctors, nurses, therapists,…
-
The Patient Hierarchy of Needs
by Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA Introduction Back in 1943, a seminal work by Dr. Abraham Maslow was published describing the human hierarchy of needs. In this hierarchy, once lower level needs were adequately satisfied (i.e., basic physiologic needs like food and shelter), then higher level needs arise. In other words, people typically don’t…
-
The “Hard Dollar Delusion”: losing touch with the reality of “soft” dollars
Primarily because they are easier to measure, some consider “hard dollars” more “real” and therefore more likely to drive their business decisions than “soft dollars,” even when soft dollars have a greater impact on the business. As a result, business and clinical outcomes can be adversely affected.
Zero Effectors 